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Gregg Popovich made one of the most controversial coaching
decisions when he decided to send Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, and
Danny Green home on a road
game in Miami. Nobody is denying that. Where the debate comes in is David
Stern’s decision to slap a $250,000 fine on the roster littered with Hall
of Famers and NBA champions.

The popular position is to side with coach Gregg Popovich.
He is responsible to the San Antonio Spurs for putting them in a place that
best gives them a chance to win a championship. After all, that is the ultimate
goal in sports.

Not only that, but Popovich has proven that he is more than capable of creating bona-fide
championship managerial decisions. Resting Duncan and Ginobili—players well past their prime—is going to be
part of the regular season. Players that are younger have been injured in less
trying circumstances, namely Derrick Rose’s season-ending injury in the last minutes of what was a blowout win, so Popovich appears to be
completely right in deciding to sit his stars.

More importantly, the San Antonio Spurs landed a terrible
stretch of games by the NBA. Six away games in nine days is a bout of
horrendously bad luck and should not have happened, especially when it involves
trekking from Canada to Miami (among other stops, of course). The Heat, on the
other hand, have played one game in
the past week and it was against the Cavaliers.

So while the Heat fans did get the short end of the stick
not being able to see some of the NBA’s best in action, Popovich’s decision was
purely in the best interest of the organization. And the Spurs nearly won the
game, too, so it’s not as if the Spurs gave the Heat a freebie. Taking it at its
surface value, which Skip
Bayless did in Friday’s episode of First
Take, you might say that the amalgamation of these factors means that of
course Gregg Popovich can rest his guys.

Initially, I was also infuriated that David Stern was going
to drop the hammer on one of the NBA’s most respectable franchises. But, that
initial overreaction probably had a lot to do with to the NFL saga that has
gone on between the New Orleans Saints and commissioner Roger Goodell.

The reality is that David Stern was completelycorrect in deciding to fine the Spurs.

His
words: “[The Spurs] did this
without informing the Heat, the media, or the league office in a timely way.
Under these circumstances, I have concluded that the Spurs did a disservice to
the league and our fans."

Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili weren't even on the
bench vs. Miami on Thursday.

Stern articulated the perfect
reason for the fine. Never does he say that the fine is directly because of
benching Duncan and Co., but rather it’s the lack of timely manner that led to the
fine. That is precisely the problem. A personal analogy: as a fan, I have
specifically chosen to watch games that had the best players on the field. Back
in the early days of what is now AT&T Park in San Francisco, Barry Bonds
was bashing home run after home run. I was ecstatic one day to see the Giants
in action.

And while I love cheering on my
home team, my left field seat shows an equally valid intention for paying the
price of admission: I wanted to be entertained by (a juiced up) home run
hitting machine.

But he sat out that game.

Here we are, more than a decade
later, and I still remember that game.
I don’t remember any of the results of the game, but I remember the fact that I
missed the man who would hit 756 career home runs. I was disappointed much for the
very same reasons that Heat fans were probably disappointed (even though they
are spoiled themselves with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade…).

I had spent good money to watch
a game—to be entertained—by some of the best professional athletes in the
world. I gladly would have bought tickets to a different game to see Bonds play
(but since it was a Giants home game, nobody cared, of course). The point is clear: the Spurs
come to Miami once a year. But the fans would rather pay to see most other NBA teams play the Heat than the
second-string Spurs team that comes once a year.

Even though he has the right to choose when to rest his players, the way he did it this time was not right. Popovich is obliged to put
the Spurs organization in the best position to win; however, he also has a
responsibility to the league and its fans to let them know when such prominent NBA
(super)stars will sit out when its for a reason like scheduling.

Fourteen games into the season, the Warriors have seen both
some of the “same old, same old,” and some signs that show brighter days may
be are on the horizon. Andrew Bogut aggravating his knee injury and Brandon
Rush losing the entire NBA season to an ACL tear was heartbreaking to say the
least for a fan base that has all too often seen how high hopes can fall victim
to untimely injury.

While that is a concern and a taboo topic in Golden State,
there have also been some rather bright spots that should excite a fan base
that has gone from an improbable 2007 playoff run to decimation with perennial
disappointment.

For one, they have had put together excellent performances against
some of the NBA’s best teams. Defeating the Los Angeles Clippers in Los Angeles
was an incredible feat for a young team—the Warriors won with two rookies in the starting lineup against
the likes of Blake Griffin and Chris Paul. While the Warriors didn’t play
particularly well against a soul-searching Lakers team, the Clippers game was a
valid point of optimism for the Warriors faithful to say, “maybe…?”

36 points against the Thunder in the fourth quarter and a
fairly convincing win against a stacked Brooklyn Nets team, there are ample
reasons that show the Warriors are a team to be taken seriously. Here are three
keys that have gotten the Warriors where they are…and must continue for a successful
season:

Production from
Harrison Barnes and the rookies

The Warriors just might have had one of the best low-profile
drafts in recent memory. Oklahoma City has rightfully earned all of the accolades
for picking up Kevin Durant, James Harden (now gone), and Russell Westbrook.
But the Warriors were never lucky bad enough to land such a high pick in
the draft. Nonetheless, general manager Bob Myers did the right thing when
Harrison Barnes fell into his lap with the No. 7 pick in the 2012 draft.

Barnes has been a stud whose potential is sky-high. His
jumper is impressive, he can create for himself and his ability to finish is
nothing short of well, this…

10.7 points and 5.0 rebounds per game only begins to tell
the story of what Barnes has meant to the Warriors. It’s early but let me just
say that I’m not giving up on him as my pick to get that Rookie
of the Year award. Damian Lillard is tearing it up in Portland but Barnes
has earned a right to be in the early season discussion.

Barnes leads a rookie trio with two players who have stepped
up big in Bogut and Rush’s absence. Draymond Green and Festus Ezeli have played
solid minutes when asked and been energizers on defense. Ezeli has even landed
the starting center role—although his minutes are not too extensive considering
Carl Landry is waiting to make a (huge) impact off the bench.

Scoring and
rebounding from the best power forward duo in basketball

As hinted at in the previous paragraph, the Warriors have
the best 1-2 punch at power forward. David Lee is a nightly threat to go 20-10
and averaged 18 points and 12 rebounds over the past 10 games. His circus shot
against the Timberwolves may have been lucky but his touch inside is incredible,
having proven that his ambidexterity in the post is a true weapon.

Then there’s Carl Landry. Warrior Nation was quite excited
for this pickup but nobody would have guessed this guy would establish himself
as one of the best players on the Warriors this early in the season. Landry is
a monster on the boards, both offensively and defensively. Just last night he
out-rebounded Pekovic on a missed free throw and earned a quick put-back.

Landry is making an early season push for sixth man of the
year, with 15 points and 7 rebounds per game to go along with 78 percent
free-throw shooting and 60 percent from
the field. Like the youthful energy brought with Ezeli, Barnes, and Green,
the Warriors main big men need to continue to lead the way solidifying
offensive scoring and securing rebounds.

These two are the Warriors foundation.

Stephen Curry
shooting…and shooting a lot

Klay Thompson will continue to find his position and comfort
on the basketball court and is a huge part of the Warriors both now and into
the future. He has had a roller coaster ride of a season thus far but one thing
is certain: Thompson can drain threes. It’s a matter of time for Thompson to
improve his consistency. In the meantime, the Warriors have nothing to worry
about because Curry is one of the best shooters in the league.

Although Curry had a disappearing act against Denver last
Friday, that shouldn’t concern Mark Jackson in the slightest (and hasn’t).
After all, the very next game, Curry shot five of 10 from three.

With Jarrett Jack taking off some of the pressure
ball-handling, Curry can take advantage of his No. 1 strength. Curry has one of
the best shooting strokes in the NBA, as he has proven when he is on the court.
That nagging worry of injury is what keeps the Warriors cautiously optimistic
with their star, but Curry can shoot outside, inside, jumpers, and is a lights
out free throw shooter.

If he can stay on the court, the Warriors will always be a
hot shooting streak away from getting back in any game.

-------

The Warriors have every reason to be confident that they can
make a strong push for more than just a mediocre season. Even Andris Biedrins,
whose name makes the Bay Area cringe, has made an (albeit small) contribution
when called upon. The depth that the Warriors have is scary and if they can get
their stars to play like stars consistently, it will continue to be a fun
season to watch. Ideally Bogut gets his act together soon and comes back completely healthy, which is another
critical piece to the puzzle of the Warriors success. Seeing a seven-footer on
the floor who actually knows how to play the game is surreal for an
organization that has traditionally been undersized.

I originally
picked the Warriors to settle around the seventh or eighth seed in the
Western Conference, but they should simply ride their confidence and deep
roster as far is it takes them. Don’t look back, just keep playing and
improving.

If these three keys can remain consistent, the Warriors might
surprise a lot of teams in the West.

The Black Mamba and Air
Jordan. This comparison is one that will be made for years to come because of a
multitude of reasons, namely the fact that these premiere NBA scorers are the
two greatest shooting guards of all time. And while the argument that Jordan
revolutionized the sport is valid, I will remove that consideration and take a closer
look at Kobe and Jordan’s respective statistics (regular season and playoffs),
awards (including championship titles), and clutch performing—which these two
guys are generally considered some of the best ever.

This column seeks to provide
a complete comparison of these NBA greats and show you who ultimately is both the
better and the greater player. And as I always like to turn to first, let’s
have a look at the regular season statistics of Kobe and Jordan:

Really there’s not much to
debate here, Jordan is clearly the better regular season performer. The only
statistic that Kobe has an edge in is three-point percentage, and that
advantage is by a whole one percentage point. Truthfully, Kobe’s first three
years did set him behind a bit, but even if you eliminate those years from
consideration, he still has less points (27.8) and fewer assists (5.1) while
most other categories remain relatively constant.

Kobe is known primarily for
being a scorer and not only did Jordan score more than Kobe does, but Jordan
also shot a significantly higher percentage—hence the large disparity in PER.

Now, how about playoff
statistics?

Playoff per game statistics

Kobe Bryant

Michael Jordan

Points

25.6

33.4

Rebounds

5.1

6.4

Assists

4.7

5.7

Steals

1.4

2.1

FG percentage

.448

.487

3PT percentage

.331

.332

Minutes

39.3

41.8

PER

22.4

28.6

eFG percentage

.480

.503

Games played

220

179

Same story—only this time
Jordan owns the better numbers in every single category. Something else worth
noting is the relative improvement/decline of each players’ numbers from
regular season to playoffs. Kobe’s stats remain relatively constant, with an insignificant
increase in points as well as small increases in rebounds, assists, and minutes
per game. However, his FG percentage, PER, and eFG percentage all decrease. And
while comparing separate players PER may not be the greatest statistical
measure, it is reasonable to look at an individual players increase/decrease in
this number.

In utter contrast, Jordan’s
points, rebounds, assists, and minutes per game all increase, as well as his
three-point percentage. But he does have slight decreases in FG and eFG
percentages as well as steals per game. But in the end, Jordan clearly has the
better playoff numbers.

Of course, statistics do not
tell the entire story and the major argument for Kobe Bryant as a great NBA
player is his five championship titles. And while that may look favorably upon
the Black Mamba in a comparison of Kobe and LeBron James, it does not do the
same when comparing Kobe to Jordan.

Here is a chart of their
respective playoff accolades and overall achievements/awards as of November
2012.

Kobe Bryant

Michael Jordan

5x NBA champion

6x NBA champion

2x NBA Finals MVP

6x NBA Finals MVP

1x MVP

5x MVP

14x All-Star

14x All-Star

N/A

NBA Defensive Player of the
Year

N/A

NBA Rookie of the Year

2x scoring champ

10x scoring champ

This drives home the proof
that there truly is not much of a competition in this comparison. Jordan has
more titles, but more importantly he demolishes Kobe in Finals MVPs which is a
much more telling tale of a great champion. Why? For three of Kobe’s
championship titles he wasn’t even the
best player on his team. Seriously, it’s like saying Derek Fisher’s five
titles (all won as a teammate of Kobe Bryant) are equal to Kobe’s when
comparing a player’s legacy.

That is as fallacious of a
statement as saying that Kobe, as a champion, is on the same level as Jordan.

Now let’s address the other
major points of this chart, the most important one being the MVP award
disparity. One argument I want to address is the claim that Kobe should have
won the MVP in 2006: this is erroneous because not only did Nash have a better
season than Kobe, but so did LeBron James! In that year, LeBron had a
statistically monstrous season and singlehandedly brought the Cavaliers into
the playoffs, not to mention in his playoff debut he recorded a triple-double…

So, we stand firm at a measly
one MVP award to a five-time MVP.

Then comes the Defensive
Player of the Year award differential. Clearly, Jordan was a shut-down
defender. And not only do I think that Kobe is an overrated defender, but so does his former coach, Phil
Jackson. To quote the 11-time champion Zen Master on Kobe’s All-Defense First
Team awards: “The voters have been seduced by
his remarkable athleticism and spectacular steals, but he hasn’t played sound,
fundamental defense.”

Couldn’t have said it
better myself. I would never have gone to betting sites with the intention of putting money on Kobe's Lakers keeping high-powered offenses of the early and mid-00s under 95 points consistently. The 2001 Lakers, for instance, had the seventh-worst offense in the league.

And what about those
scoring titles? Kobe is supposed to be the greatest scorer in the league right?
For one, two players, one of which has been in the league far shorter than
Kobe, have more scoring titles than he does. Yup, Allen Iverson and Kevin
Durant both reigned supreme as the NBA’s leading scorer three times each during
Kobe’s career. So there could even be a debate if Kobe is the best scorer of his own generation!

Then there’s Michael
Jordan. 10 scoring titles says it all—he netted baskets like nobody else, and
is tied with Wilt Chamberlain for the all-time record of career points per
game. Kobe isn’t even in the top 10.

If by now you still aren’t
thoroughly convinced that Jordan is far superior to Kobe, there is one more
thing to drive home that point: clutchness. This analysis comes in two forms:
greatness during the playoffs and performance in the final 24 seconds of a
game.

One’s performance in
playoffs is “clutch” in the sense that it provides a glimpse into whether or
not you can get it done in the games that matter most. Jordan’s six Finals MVPs
to Kobe’s two only begin to tell the story. If you look at the greatest playoff performances of all time,
Kobe has a grand total of zero in the top 10 compared to Jordan’s three which
include the renowned “Flu Game,” as well as the 63 point game and the free
throw jumper over Bryon Russell to seal the 1998 NBA Finals win for the Bulls. Not
sold? Well, ESPN only gives Kobe one top-25 playoff performance all time (Jordan’s name appears eight times).

Is it any closer in terms
of “last-second” shots?

Chasing 23lists every single clutch shot of Jordan’s career, where
clutch is defined as “shot attempts made with the intent to either win or tie
the game within the final 24 seconds, during which a player’s team is either
tied or trails by three or fewer points.” The final verdict Jordan
is 9 of 18 in such situations—or an astounding 50 percent. How about Kobe? A similar study finds Kobe with an unimpressive 7 of 27, or 26 percent.

In other words, Jordan is about twice as good as Kobe in last-second
shot situations.

Kobe is a great player and deserves to be on the same playing field as
some of the greatest of all time, but the reality is that he is significantly
inferior to Jordan. Stats, awards, clutch performing, it all points in the same
direction: Kobe vs. Jordan may be a comparison, but it is not a very
competitive one.

So, Kobe may believe that he has no rivals in the today’s game, but if he was playing in Jordan’s era, the
great Air Jordan would express similar sentiments regarding Kobe.

Legacies are verified
and occasionally invalidated with a players’ postseason record. And while the
NBA is very much a team game, individuals have the ability to take over games
regardless of the four teammates that they have on the floor with them. These
are the games where, as LeBron James said
after a historic Game 5 performance vs. the Pistons in the 2007 Eastern
Conference finals: “I was able to will my team to victory.”

Michael Jordan’s
performances are, naturally, tattered throughout this top 10 list of greatest
NBA playoff performances of all time…but may not be quite as high as ESPN ranks them. Here is Bases and
Baskets ranking of a select few games that were jaw-dropping, mind-numbing
shows put on by present or future Hall of Famers from 1980 to 2012.

80 percent from the field and 24-24 on free throws…
Dirk Nowitzki put on an absolute shooting clinic in this game, something he did quite frequently in his 2011 championship run. This game epitomized the absolute demolition that
a jump shooting seven-footer could do to a defense. Kevin Durant got a taste of
his own medicine this game but redemption was sweet for him against the Mavs in
2012. Regardless, this game cemented Dirk’s legacy as an all-time great,
proving that he could perform at an elite level in the playoffs.

9. Tim Duncan, Spurs: 2003
NBA Finals, Game 1 vs. Nets

Points

Rebounds

Assists

Steals

Blocks

TO

FG %

Minutes

32

20

6

3

7

1

65

44

In one of the most dominating performances of all
time by a big man, Tim Duncan went off on both the offensive and defensive ends
of the floor. The stats pretty much say it all—not only did he get 32 points
and six assists but he also grabbed 20 rebounds, seven blocks, and even three
steals. Vintage Tim Duncan proved that he can thoroughly dominate the game regardless
of the lack of flashiness in his game.

8. Isiah Thomas, Pistons:
1988 NBA Finals, Game 6 vs. Lakers

Points

Rebounds

Assists

Steals

Blocks

TO

FG %

Minutes

43

3

8

6

1

5

56

44

Isiah Thomas’ incredible performance was nearly
top-10 worthy in and of itself. But the third quarter sprained ankle truly
amplifies the greatness of the performance. On the NBA’s greatest stage, Thomas
had a historic performance against a star-studded Lakers team led by Magic
Johnson. Even though the Pistons weren’t able to pull off a win in this game,
it lives on as a testament to the sheer will that can overcome the searing pain
of injuries.

7. Michael Jordan,
Bulls: 1998 NBA Finals, Game 6 vs. Jazz

Points

Rebounds

Assists

Steals

Blocks

TO

FG %

Minutes

45

1

1

4

0

1

43

44

This was a classic Jordan playoff game. Although he
did not do much but score the basketball, he came through in the clutch and
pulled off the single most iconic shot in NBA history. The crossover of Bryon
Russell and the finishing touch at the free-throw line earned Jordan the 1998
NBA championship title as he simply posed with his hand in the air as if to say
“you just can’t stop me.”

6. Michael Jordan,
Bulls: 1997 NBA Finals, Game 5 vs. Jazz

Points

Rebounds

Assists

Steals

Blocks

TO

FG %

Minutes

38

7

5

3

1

3

48

44

More so than Isiah Thomas’ broken ankle game, the
legendary “Flu Game” was when Michael Jordan managed to handle the Jazz even
though he could barely walk off the court under his own power. But he has a perfect NBA Finals record of 6-0 for a reason and the first of back-to-back wins against the Jazz in 1997 and 1998 was remembered best because of this game.

This Jordan performance lives
on through commercials and pictures of Jordan holding
on to Scottie Pippen as proof that adrenaline and a will to win can
overcome some of the most trying physical adversities.

5. James Worthy, Lakers:
1988 NBA Finals, Game 7 vs. Pistons

Points

Rebounds

Assists

Steals

Blocks

TO

FG %

Minutes

36

16

10

2

0

5

68

44

“Big Game” James certainly earned that nickname with
this triple-double in Game 7 of the NBA Finals. In the ultimate clutch time performance,
Worthy tore up the Pistons in every facet of the game, including shooting a
staggering 68 percent from the field. This performance was a hallmark of Worthy’s
career and certainly helped his Hall of Fame worthiness (pun intended).

Hall of Famer Larry Bird after this game said “that
was God disguised as Michael Jordan.” Not much else you can say about that
aside from the fact that this was Michael Jordan single-handedly tearing up a
very good Celtics team with a spectacular NBA playoff record 63-point game.

This was the single most dominant finish to an NBA
game in history. LeBron scored 29 of the Cavaliers final 30 points in a
double-overtime win against a defensively-minded Detroit Pistons squad.

Nothing
that Detroit was throwing at LeBron stopped him from getting to the rim and
ultimately willing his team to win. This game defines what it means to put a
team on your back. In the words of then-Cavs coach Mike Brown: “My words don’t do justice for what he did.”

73 percent shooting on a night where the legitimacy
of your career was in the balance. The Heat had managed to get their backs to
the wall in the Eastern Conference finals, but LeBron came to the rescue and
took over the game. From the first couple shots of the game, you could tell he
was in the zone and it was going to be something special.

In one game, LeBron restored respect (at least for
his basketball talent) and proved that his atrocious 2011 NBA Finals were in
the past. It was the turning point pushed the Heat over the hump to winning
LeBron’s first championship. As I discussed in my LeBron
vs. Jordan column, “it’s the path through
adversity that defines the champion, not just the grand finale.” This
game defined LeBron’s 2012 championship title.

1. Magic
Johnson, Lakers: 1980 NBA Finals, Game 6 vs. 76ers

Points

Rebounds

Assists

Steals

Blocks

TO

FG %

Minutes

42

15

7

3

1

5

61

47

In
Game 6 of the NBA Finals, Laker legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was out with a
bruised ankle. So what does coach Paul Westhead decide? Only to throw his rookie point guard into the center
position. 42 points and 15 rebounds later, the Lakers are champions.

Everything
about what Magic accomplished during this game was spectacular and for good
reason this is nearly unanimously regarded as the NBA’s greatest playoff
performance. This game was one of the many brilliant shows by one of
Hollywood’s most beloved players.